Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Around the Campfire => Topic started by: JW_Halverson on August 19, 2012, 05:20:00 pm
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A while back we got a call at the Black Hills Raptor Center from the folks at our local UHaul depot. They had a hawk in their back lot that seemed to be in some trouble. Here's what I found atop a wrecked truck.
(http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo100/JW_Halverson/Hendrix/misc%20BOP/IMG_0082.jpg)
Catching him was easy. He was a "young of the year" bird and not too experienced. Also in my favor was the fact that he was deeply malnourished and extremely dehydrated. I just reached up with a gloved hand and grabbed him by the ankles, wrapped him in a towel and headed for our vet's office. He offered no fight in return.
We loaded him with 20 cc's of subcutaneous fluids just to help combat the dehydration and then did a quick exam. No broken bones, no blood, not even any pain reaction. Just seriously atrophied muscles, indicating malnutrition. He still had downy feathers all over. The quills of the flight feathers/tail feathers were still growing out! This guy was too young to be out of the nest. If his parents were still alive, they would be feeding him! Adult raptors are some of the most dedicated parents you will ever find. Later one adult and another juvenile were found in the woods behind the UHaul lot.
He weighed out at 326 grams after the initial fluids, so he would have been about 306 when I picked him up, or just 10.8 ounces! That afternoon we started him on squirrel livers, rabbit livers, and later whole mice. He ate everything we offered, just as long as we were out of sight! Later that evening we offered deboned rabbit without the skin. Lots and lots of feedings of small offerings. All told, the little guy consumed 237 grams of food, or 77% of his bodyweight in just one day.
His "Don't Mess With Me" posture!
(http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo100/JW_Halverson/Hendrix/misc%20BOP/photos005.jpg)
For 10 days we continued to offer all the food he could pack away. At this age, these birds will eat up to 50% MORE than an adult can consume. Their little bellies are never really satisfied, their growth is so rapid it is almost impossible to overfeed.
In this photo you can see that the tips of the feathers on his back and shoulders are pale colored. In his second year they will not have the pale tips and his eyes will be very dark. His final weight was 914 grams, a 298.6% weight gain in just 10 days. Yeah, when he came in, he was in deep trouble.
On the bow perch.
(http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo100/JW_Halverson/Hendrix/misc%20BOP/photos002.jpg)
The Black Hills Raptor Center is not yet a Federally Licensed rehabilitation center. For this situation, the bird was held under the permits of a properly licensed rehabber. Unfortunately, she didn't have the space to house this bird. We did. And, our housing had already been approved by the US Fish & Wildlife Services for the housing of raptors.
With the rehabber's cooperation and the cooperation of our mutual US Fish & Wildlife Services representative in Denver, we were provisionally allowed to house the bird in our facility. Our permitting agent in Denver, Linda Downey, is a great person and really works hard at being helpful. Without her, we would struggle with the layers of red tape that goes with the permitting processes.
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At this time, UHaul, as we began to call him, is in Fort Pierre, South Dakota at another licensed raptor rehabilitation center where he is being prepared for release into the Ft. Pierre National Grasslands.
The Black Hills Raptor Center is currently in a Capital Fund Drive in order to raise money to build our own facility. At that time we will be able to apply for a raptor rehabilitation permit in order to help with the 75-100 injured bird requests we get yearly. Another recent call sent the co-founder, Maggie running for Keystone, SD where an injured bald eaglet was in the middle of the highway. At this time the nearest facility that is capable of helping with these birds is over 3 hours away. By the time we have arranged for transport of the birds it's often too late.
Anyone notice how I haven't told you what species this bird was? Any guesses?
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Swainson's Hawk (Buteo swainsoni) ?
Beautiful bird, John. I'd bet this is very rewarding work even though it has its low moments. I have a special place in my heart for all raptors. They must be my medicine. 8)
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And Pat hits the Daily Double. Very good eye, oh bearded one!
These migratory hawks are very common on the plains and prairies of North America. In the fall they are often seen in "kettles" of upwards of hundreds of adult birds, swirling across the prairie like a raptor tornado. At that time of the year they are feasting on small rodents, small birds, and every grasshopper they can glean from the fields. They make incredible weight gains because soon they are off to South America, even down into southern Argentina. They fly upwards of 7,000 miles one way in order to hunt the grasslands and Pampas of South America.
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Gotta love my Audubon Field Guides! ;)
We get a northern migration and a southern migration here in fall and spring respectively. The raptors(lots of species) will land along the eastern escarpment of the Southern Appalacian Mountains(only a few miles from where I live) in the evenings and in the mornings catch the thermals up to where they can coast southward to the next resting place. It is pretty cool to see lots of raptors all together. You think of them as loners until you see a migration.
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Cool stuff j-dub....glad I don't have to go 7000 miles for a meal :laugh:
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Yep cool stuff there JW.I would of guessed a red tailed hawk....LOL.With out seeing his tail though.Course I don't have a cheet sheet book to refer from....LOL.Got tons of red tails here in southern Iowa.
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Cool story J-dub.
I watched a Coopers take out a full grown drake woody, in flight no less. Talk about cruel and nasty. The duck was double his size, but he just stood on top of the duck picking away breast meat until it died. Took at least an hour for the woody to die. Then the hawk DRAGGED the duck about 15 feet into the woods. He would grab the duck with one talon and kick his other leg out and pull the duck to him. He repeated that many times over until daffy was nestled away under some leaves. Craziest and coolest thing I have ever seen in nature.
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Great story! 8)
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Cool story J-dub.
I watched a Coopers take out a full grown drake woody, in flight no less. Talk about cruel and nasty. The duck was double his size, but he just stood on top of the duck picking away breast meat until it died. Took at least an hour for the woody to die. Then the hawk DRAGGED the duck about 15 feet into the woods. He would grab the duck with one talon and kick his other leg out and pull the duck to him. He repeated that many times over until daffy was nestled away under some leaves. Craziest and coolest thing I have ever seen in nature.
WOW! Cooper's hawks are really small, that woody drake may have even been 3X his weight.
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Soooooooooooooooooo cool to be able to winess that. One in 10 million chance Im sure. It was a rainy, crappy day during the spring woody nesting. They nest all over around our house in tall maple trees.
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8) I love me a hawk now. Great story JW. dp
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Three injured bird calls today, two great horned owls and a mature golden eagle. One owl and the eagle are on their way to rehab, and the second great horned owl turned out to be a nighthawk.
If anyone has a spare half million dollars we will be sure to name our facility after you!
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Cool rescue and save! I showed my son the ground perch in one of the pics and he was ecstatic because he built one for a 5 th grade science project last spring for a local rehab facility.
On a side note, the male Peregrine in downtown Indianapolis died- suspected crash into the building according to one official.
Tracy
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Monday's golden eagle:
(http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo100/JW_Halverson/Hendrix/Piedmont%20GOEA/Picture007.jpg)
And his battle gear:
(http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo100/JW_Halverson/Hendrix/Piedmont%20GOEA/Picture006.jpg)
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Think the Golden could hold a filled balloon without breaking it in those meat hooks? >:D
Cool pics!
Tracy
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I'm just glad he did not chose to use them as "me" hooks!